In The Master's Service

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THE OLD BAPTIST TEST

Elder John M. Watson

Christ not only said that he had "other sheep"which he must bring, but also that he knew them. "I KNOW MY SHEEP," said the Saviour. This declaration implies a peculiar knowledge of them, which must be contra-distinguished from his knowledge of all creatures. In what sense then did he know them? In the manner for which we earnestly contend in the present day. I will now adduce the proof: He knew them among the Romans, as they were embraced in the Father's predestination to be conformed to the image of the Son. Had he foreknown all according to his predestination to conform them to the image of His Son, then the doctrine of Universalism would be true. Hence his knowledge of His "sheep" is strikingly peculiar, as in the present instance, and no less so in others which follow.

How did he know them among the Corinthians? He said he had "much people" at Corinth, before he manifested them to Paul. They were his unbrought sheep; he knew them as such, and in that peculiar knowledge were distinct from all other Corinthians.

The same may be said of the Galatians; Christ knew who were the heirs of the promises of the Gospel, while they were in their figurative minority. And as all the Galatians were not heirs, this peculiar knowledge embraced only such as were.

This knowledge becomes synonymous with the election in the case of the Ephesians. They were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And yet this did not give him a more distinct knowledge of them, than that which is signified in the other expressions employed in regard to the Romans, Corinthians, or Galatians. The words "chosen in Him" are used, which imply a personal knowledge of them very clearly, and so do the other terms when understood.

The Philippians were doubtless the "sons of God," in the same sense.

The Saviour speaks, by the Apostle, of the Colossians "as the elect;'' and their election bespeaks his full knowledge of them.

The Thessalonians were "chosen unto salvation from the beginning;'' and they must have been personally foreknown. Besides, all these were given to the Son by the Father; and is it not impious and absurd to say that he did not foreknow them individually, nor their number collectively! This is the doctrine which we maintain, in regard to Christ's knowledge of his people; and as it has been so plainly set forth by the Apostle, why blame us for preaching it? The reply we make is, because it subverts so many popular systems!

Christ knew them and gave his life for them; redeemed them "from all iniquity," and secured to them all spiritual blessings.

My text further says, "THEY SHALL HEAR MY VOICE." The natural man asks how? Let the word of God answer: "Whom he predestinated, them he also called." Will not the dead hear when Christ gives life? "I give unto them, these sheep, eternal life." In that life they hear his voice. In that life, the Romans were called and were brought in. This is what we, in the nineteenth century, regard as an effectual call. A work of the Lord which many professing Christians affect to despise, and even ridicule. How could Paul, or the Romans have despised or ridiculed the Lord's effectual call, as we term it? The remembrance of Jerusalem and Damascus would sooner have passed from his memory than this gracious call of the Lord; nor could the Roman Churches ever have become unmindful of it. They, like Paul, heard the voice of Christ, not with natural, but with circumcised ears. In this instance the voice of the Saviour was heard only by the predestinated ones. In the next, by the "much people" at Corinth, and by them only; and it is there called a "demonstration of the spirit," the still small voice of truth pervading the whole soul in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Galatians began in the Spirit, by hearing the voice of Christ. The Ephesians through the quickening of the spirit. The Phillippians by the Lord working in them, both to will and to do of his good pleasure; and the Colossians in their deliverance from the powers of darkness, and their translation into the kingdom of God. The Thessalonians undeniably "through a sanctification of the Spirit." Thus did these "other sheep" hear the, voice of Christ according to the different modes of expression, as just cited, meaning in every example the same thing-the hearing of the voice of the Son of God inwardly, mystically, effectually. Christ never brought one of them without this; we had as well speak of an individual being brought from England to the United States without his leaving that country, as to say that one of these other sheep was brought in without hearing the Saviour's voice, in this sense, stated in diversified ways, and yet the same in principle and efficiency.

He that has heard the voice of Christ has also in the same spiritual way heard the thunders of Sinai! has experienced a sense of the wickedness of his heart, and the curse of sin; has mourned over his sinful state and repented of his sins, and found relief in Christ and in Him only.

"And they follow me," says the Great Shepherd. This is a practical sign of their having received the gift of eternal life, and of their having heard his voice. Brethren, have we this sign? We claim fellowship in doctrine, have we fellowship in this practical characteristic? This we must examine into according to the one fold, and the one shepherd. In the conclusion of my last, I was further off from this subject, the one fold and the one shepherd, than I supposed, hence I will have to defer it until my next.

As they are all brought by the same spirit, the same gospel, and according to the same predestination, choice and election, if I maintain the apostolic doctrine, I shall not have to treat of but one fold and one shepherd. But the world perplexes us with many. Many are constantly trying to climb up some other way into the fold. And the very things which the Apostle has disowned and repudiated, are employed as a means of doing so.

Suppose an individual having a great interest at stake, and were to tell a good counselor that his only plea was based on enactments which had been positively vetoed by the Governor of the State, or by the President of the United States. Would that attorney undertake a case of the kind? And when our souls' highest interests are predicated on things which the Apostle has repudiated, how shall we maintain them? How many in contradiction to Paul, say it is of him that willeth and runneth? How shall we defend a claim to Heaven based on such a declaration? Others say, it is in some way by works of righteousness which we have done; hence that claim will fail. The Apostle says "not I," but the Arminian says it is I? Again, he says, the natural man cannot understand these things of the spirit, but some say he can. How shall we defend such, seeing that whatever the Apostle has bound on earth is bound in Heaven. But, alas! alas! how many thousands act, as if the things which the Lord has bound on earth were to be loosed in Heaven!